so I've been thinking of buying an external hard drive to back up my desktop computer (not a portable one, this would primarily/only be for backing up my computer). I've been looking at the Toshiba 2TB Canvio Desk Desktop External Hard Drive (Black/Black) (HDWC120XK3J1) on Amazon since my portable Toshiba has worked so well. But I was wondering if, while Toshiba is good with portable hard drives, they have a bad rep for non-portable external hard drives.

I was figuring that, since the 3TB one is only $10 more on Amazon I'd get that model even though my computer hard drive is only 2 TB since having extra storage can never hurt._________________

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:57 am

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HogyMaster

Joined: 14 Dec 2011Posts: 919Location: Nar Shaddaa

^Personally I'd go for the 3TB. 10$ isn't that much and 3TBs are more or less a norm these days. But it's up to you.

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 4:36 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

Hogy wrote:

^Personally I'd go for the 3TB. 10$ isn't that much and 3TBs are more or less a norm these days. But it's up to you.

Yeah can never hurt to have the extra TB. Is it correct to assume that Toshiba's external hard drives are as good as their portable ones? (I figure it's worth asking since there's always the chance that they might make really good portable hard drives but for whatever reason not make good non-portable external hard drives)._________________

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:36 am

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 5694Location: Beyond Shadows

As far as external hard drives go, I have always bought Toshiba. Originally it was just a well researched choice, now it is a must. I trust their technology with my data, shall we say. But I agree with Hogy, get the 3 TB. _________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 5:20 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

thanks guys, I will go with the Toshiba then.

On a different note my dad recently got a new Toshiba laptop and has been having trouble with the mouse pad. Specifically the touch pad seems to freeze on a frequent basis (every few minutes or so it seems). I'm not sure if it's an issue that his thumbs hit the pad when typing which cause it to freak out, if it's an issue of sensitivity, or just that this laptop is a lemon.

I know that on my Sony the touch pad can freak out if the computer starts running too hot so I don't know if it could be a similar issue. I'm guessing not though since the Toshiba, unlike my Sony, doesn't have any intake vents near the touch pad.

Anyway I'm going to look into what I can do but I'm honestly unsure what might be wrong as right now I haven't been able to connect the freezing to any particular pattern._________________

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:05 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

so this is a smartphone question but I figured that since they're basically minicomputers this thread made the most sense to ask my question.

As you guys with smartphones have all probably experienced my phone finally started running out of space for apps. I've tried looking on the internet for ways to move/install apps on my phone's SD card but unfortunately all of the search results for how to do this on an Android are a year or more out of date. Looking through the list of apps it looks like some memory is taken up by pre-installed apps I will never use ("NFL Mobile," "Zappos," and "slacker radio" come to mind) but there also doesn't seem to be a way to uninstall them. I hesitate to just install an app that will supposedly help me move apps and/or delete unwanted ones and hope for the best.

Any suggestions you guys have for freeing up space would be much appreciated._________________

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 5:03 pm

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YodaBauer2442Master

Joined: 06 Apr 2011Posts: 561Location: Sofa

How often do you delete text messages? Especially ones where you send pictures of video often._________________"To understand what happened at the diner, we use Mr. Papaya. This is upsetting because he is the friendliest of fruits. " Dr. Walter Bishop

"WHERE'S THE FIRE?! I've always loved that expression, which is curious since my lab assistant was killed in a fire."
- Walter Bishop

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:56 am

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HogyMaster

Joined: 14 Dec 2011Posts: 919Location: Nar Shaddaa

I have a similar problem. SD card with plenty of memory, but my phones memory is almost full. Some of the programs (facebook, Chrome,...) won't allow you to move them on the SD card, so you can't do anything about that, at least I think so.

It's strange that you can't delete some of the nonessential apps, I don't have that problem, I can remove pretty much anything I want. My Android version isn't the latest, my phone is htc.

YodaBauer is right. If you delete MMS, text and mail messages you will gain some room. Depands on how much you use those things and how often you delete them.

If you learn something else please feel free to share it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:41 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

Hogy wrote:

I have a similar problem. SD card with plenty of memory, but my phones memory is almost full. Some of the programs (facebook, Chrome,...) won't allow you to move them on the SD card, so you can't do anything about that, at least I think so.

It's strange that you can't delete some of the nonessential apps, I don't have that problem, I can remove pretty much anything I want. My Android version isn't the latest, my phone is htc.

These would be those silly apps that are preinstalled by verizon. I can see an option to disable them but not delete them. I guess I can at least disable them to free up RAM.

Quote:

YodaBauer is right. If you delete MMS, text and mail messages you will gain some room. Depands on how much you use those things and how often you delete them.

If you learn something else please feel free to share it.

I don't ever send texts with photo/video but I suppose I text a decent amount. I guess to some degree I haven't deleted texts because of sentimental reasons. Would archiving them (I use Google Hangouts for texting) free up space on the phone without outright deleting the messages?_________________

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:37 pm

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 5694Location: Beyond Shadows

I don't know that apps are ever stored on the SD card as a rule, simply because they wouldn't work in the case the card was separated from the phone (assuming it's an external card). But apps should take up little to no space on a phone. What kind of internal memory do you have?

I would venture to guess, assuming you have a typical smartphone, that moving everything else to the SD card would free up plenty of room for your apps. What model phone do you have?_________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:25 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

I have about 4-4.5 GB of internal memory. I can probably free up about 500 MB of space by transferring photos and such to the SD card (I already keep music on the SD card). Which would give me about 1 GB of free space. I use a Android Razr M.

I guess I was just puzzled because the phone got very angry with me when I dipped to about 400 MB of free space and basically held syncing apps hostage until I freed up space. Hence why I started asking how to free up space since I didn't want my phone holding apps hostage again (I deleted the apps I had installed but didn't really use anymore)._________________

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:35 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

So this one has been puzzling me for months now. I have Adobe Acrobat which makes Adobe Reader kinda pointless. However, my computer insists no matter how many times I tell it to use Acrobat as the default program for PDFs (even using the "set associations" menu in the control panel; however on this menu it refuses to change to Acrobat from Reader for .pdfs) it insists on Reader anyway. The only way around this is to completely delete Reader, but my computer keeps deciding to reinstall Reader when I update it meaning I repeat the whole process again.

Has my computer become self-aware of something? Or is this just another reason people don't like Windows 8.1?_________________

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:51 pm

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 5694Location: Beyond Shadows

Reader will set itself as the default whenever it is installed, but you can override this. I'm going to assume Windows 7, but XP/Vista/8 are similar. Right-click on any .PDF and click "Open With" --> "Choose Default Program". A window will open giving you options for programs to choose. Find Acrobat and make sure the checkbox for default is checked, then click "Ok". This will cement the association with Acrobat vs. Reader. Unless, of course, you've already tried this? In which case I'm not sure. But that's how I've always been able to force the issue._________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:23 pm

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Salaris VornModerator

Joined: 02 Feb 2008Posts: 2264Location: New York, USA

Mara Jade Skywalker wrote:

Reader will set itself as the default whenever it is installed, but you can override this. I'm going to assume Windows 7, but XP/Vista/8 are similar. Right-click on any .PDF and click "Open With" --> "Choose Default Program". A window will open giving you options for programs to choose. Find Acrobat and make sure the checkbox for default is checked, then click "Ok". This will cement the association with Acrobat vs. Reader. Unless, of course, you've already tried this? In which case I'm not sure. But that's how I've always been able to force the issue.

I have actually done this. When I reopen the "choose default program" it asks "keep using Acrobat" to which I say "yes" and it promptly opens the next PDF I click on with Reader anyway.

Checking through the "set associations" menu of the Control Panel even there when I select "Acrobat" it refuses to change the setting from Reader. (I'm on Windows 8.1 btw).

It's not that Reader is impossible to use but I don't see why I should use it when I have Acrobat which has more features/options._________________

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:45 pm

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 5694Location: Beyond Shadows

It seems Microsoft doesn't have a better answer for you (not that they ever do):

One thing you can try, just to see, is bypass the "Keep using Acrobat" and choose Acrobat as the default program manually. Somewhere it should give you an option to browse for more programs, at which point you can drill down to where the Acrobat .exe is located (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat or some such...I made that up, but you get the idea), and click on that. See if it has any effect._________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker